The unique nature of Asian architecture has a profound impact on sieges. The stacked pagoda structures of Japan allow sieges to play out in stages, with attackers and defenders moving from wall to wall and from tower to tower. This gives both sides of a battle more options than simply waiting for a hole to appear in the outer defenses and then just cramming as many men as possible around it. Each castle will have five levels of construction as well, so there's an increasing level of choice and sophistication as you advance. What's even more intriguing is the team's suggestion that castles will have unique qualities based on whether they're built in the mountains, on the plains, or by the sea.

Even with all the new siege mechanics, Creative Assembly is striving to ensure that the game delivers the full range of battle types, from small scale ambushes and river crossings to huge battles in open fields. The hilly nature of Japan means chokepoints abound, so players will have to consider maneuver and position very carefully as they make their way towards objectives.

The game's artists have perfectly captured the style of the period.

The naval battles that were introduced in Empire are also being brought into Shogun 2. Boats during this period were a bit like floating castles, so you can expect to see lots of archers firing at each other from the tops, and lots of melees when enemy ships grapple with each other. The big difference this time around is that the ships are oared, so you won't have to worry about the wind affecting their momentum. If you want a ship to move to a particular spot, you just have to issue the order and it's done. Land will also be present during the naval battles, not as a contestable space, but as a means of orienting players. The ships themselves will have unique roles and levels of aggression, so there's a rock-paper-scissors element to fighting at sea.

The game's AI is being programmed according to Sun Tzu's Art of War. As one of the core foundations for this kind of mix of melee and ranged warfare, Sun Tzu is an obvious starting point, but what was particularly revealing is how much Sun Tzu talks like a programmer. If, for example, you outnumber the enemy more than five-to-one, Sun Tzu recommends an enveloping move. If you outnumber the enemy two-to-one, he prefers a direct engagement.

As intriguing as the mechanics of the game are, Creative Assembly also acknowledge that the overall art design is probably more central to the success of this game than any other in the series. The art team has been inspired by all of the conventional icons of the land and the wide range of seasons and weather will help add variety to the battles. You may, for instance, find yourself fighting in the same province during the spring as cherry blossoms drift by, and then come back for a battle as layers of snow sit on the land in winter. The team is reintroducing nighttime battles to the game, and we saw a spectacular example of a castle assault during a thunderstorm at night. The way the lightning cracked in the distance and lit up the trees and soldiers as rain collected in puddles around them was phenomenal. The ranks of soldiers, all outfitted in distinctive primary colors and sporting battle flags on their backs, looked better than any we've seen in the franchise.

Castle sieges will now have more choice and more variety.

Battle animations are superb. The units in Shogun 2 have a total of 52 different bones, which is a nearly 25% increase over those in previous Total War games. This allows for much more natural and realistic animations, which incidentally, were captured using the British Kendo Association and actual bushido fighters. Samurai were known for their strong, flexible armor and for their mastery of multiple weapons like the katana and nodachi. During our demo, we saw two ranks of katana samurai battling with each other and it looked even better than the thrilling combat in Empire. Add in support for up to 56,000 units in a single battle, and it's clear to see just how ambitious Shogun 2 really is.

To further add to the authenticity, the team is also using all the original weapons on the original materials for the sound effects. They've even gone so far as to record the sounds of the historical footwear of each unit type walking and running on all the types of terrain represented in the game.

At this pre-alpha stage, it's far too early for Creative Assembly to talk more specifically about the game, but we're already hungry for more details. We know that there will be an entirely new agent set in the game, one that uses a rock-paper-scissors mechanic, but we don't know what that means in practice. We've also been told that the team has some ambitious multiplayer ideas, but they're not willing to even hint what those might be. Whatever the case, the first look was more than enough to whet our appetite for more information. You can be sure that IGN will continue to delve into the details of Shogun 2: Total War in the coming months.